How did immigration officials at Philadelphia know when passenger
ships would arrive? Certainly they knew the ships schedules and
when each was to depart its port of embarkation. At Philadelphia,
advance word also came courtesy of the steamship lines in the form
of a telegram. When a ship passed New Castle, Delaware (about
30 miles down-river from Philadelphia), a telegram conveying
the time the ship passed that landmark instantly made its way to
the immigration official in charge in Philadelphia. The telegram
at right, dated May 1883, was addressed to Inspector S. Sheneman
of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Charities. That organization
oversaw immigration at the port of Philadelphia from 1872 to 1891.

Records of the Board of Public Charities are now among records of the Records of the INS District No. 4 (Philadelphia) at the National Archives Midatlantic Region in Philadelphia, PA. Within the records were found the ship arrival schedules reproduced here, with the anticipated arrival date for each ship arriving from November 1883 to May 1886. See the full record citation on the schedule pages.